A Tolling Bell
by celticgina
Summary: How does Annie cope after the unthinkable.  What she does, and why and who can she trust? hang in with me? NOW ADDED...Chapter 3.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I am loving this show! This story showed up courtesy of story bunnies who sat on my keyboard. I have no idea what direction those bunnies will take me, so read, review (please) and hang on for the ride!**

**DISCLAIMER: Still waiting for that life size Auggie doll in the mail. Till then, I own only laundry needing to be folded**

**A TOLLING BELL - PART 1**

The sound of casket being lowered was only broken by the stifled sobs. Joan glanced at her husband. After this many years, they had full conversations with just their eyes.

"She is taking this really hard."

"We knew she would"

"It might destroy her. And then we would lose her too."

"She is stronger than you think"

A slight twist of his lips and raise of her eyebrows said they were in perfect accord. He knew she worried about her agents. It was his job to see the bigger picture. He also knew this one cut that had the DPDS and frankly the whole company bleeding. Auggie was well liked. His brains, wit and charisma transcended his disability. The man was a legend among his peers. And those peers were not the type to impress easily. Auggie would be missed.

The techies would miss him most as a group, but individually, it was Annie Walker hands down who was suffering most. A naturally beautiful woman, the grief had taken its toll on her looks. She hadn't been eating well and sleep looked like a distant memory. There had always been a spark, actually a sparkle. That was gone. The techies gathered close to her, Arthur noted. He wondered if they were trying convey comfort or derive it from being close to her.

Her arms were wrapped around her torso as if to hold the desperate sobs in. It wasn't working too well. Every now and then one would force themselves out of her mouth in a small explosion of sound. At each one, the techies would wince as a group.

But she stood alone. Jai was out of the country on an op. The techies stood near, but she was really alone. Her request to bring her sister had been denied. It would have been too awkward to explain. As it was, his family stood overwhelmed at the military honors. Only those from the company understood they went far beyond his active military service.

She was the last to leave the gravesite. She outlasted his mother and brothers. They glance curiously at her, but there were so many very distraught young women.

She finally took that red rose and raised to her lips and tossed it in. Heaving one last deep sob and breathing slowly, she refused to say out loud what was in her heart. She could only pray that he knew. Dear God her had to know now, wherever he was. Because she was too foolish and scared to say it when it could have really meant something. It was a regret she was prepared to carry forever in her heart.

She didn't know she wasn't as alone as she thought. A figure stood back behind a tree in the distance watching her as he had for the last year. He ached to go to her and comfort her. But he knew that heartbreak might actually break her.

So, he watched, silently. He would be her guardian from afar. If only he could have saved her from this one. Even knowing the man she mourned had begun to replace him in her heart, he loved enough to want that love for her. It almost broke him. In an unconscious echo of her deep sob, he took a deep breath and followed from a safe distance as she left her best friend and hear mate in that box in the ground.

Back at headquarters the next day, it was a quiet and pale Annie who showed up to the daily briefing. She received a few nods, but it was understood that long grieving wasn't a luxury they could afford. They had a job to do and a country that unknowingly counted on them. She knew it too. Still, she was surprised to be given an assignment to quickly. When Joan announced that Howard would be her handler, she winced only slightly. He didn't take offence. He knew he had big shoes to fill. Not only was Auggie the best, but he and Annie had developed a rhythm that was natural and instant. No one else even came close to them. He tried to give her a reassuring smile. It was to her credit that she attempted a smile back.

It was to be a relatively simple mission, one a rookie could have handled. Annie understood it was not an insult. She knew she was not at her best and had a new tech in her ear. A simple job to get into their routine would be best, she reasoned.

If only it had really been that simple.

**Yeah, I know, annoying little cliffie! Never fear, the bunnies are busy jumping up and down on the keyboard. Please review and kick them and me into gear**

**I got a few comments on the spelling of Auggie's name, so I am now spellin it with gg**


	2. Chapter 2

**I am really delighted with the response from you all! I cannot believe the alerts etc. So, I was going to explain that I am new to this fandom, and then it occurred to me that we all are!**

**Not sure I love this chapter. I feel pretty shaky on writing OP's for them. Hope this works.**

**DISCLAIMER: School supplies yet to be purchased, yes, this lovely show and Auggie, no.**

A TOLLING BELL - Chapter 2

Intel retrieval was the kind of mission they gave grass green rookies. Go to a foreign country, meet an operative, and get the intel. Back 15 years ago, it meant one of those briefcases. Today, it was a chip, a zip drive, something small and easy. The only reason it wouldn't be sent was the risk of having the communication hacked. Frequently, the exchange included moving sums of money.

Annie hadn't been given something this simple in a long time. Part of her was a little insulted. Part of her understood she needed to be eased back into the field. She was working with someone new. They needed to learn each other.

Fortunately, Howard had been around Auggie enough to have an idea of how the two worked. What he didn't have was their uncanny ability to finish each other's sentences. Auggie wasn't just in her head via earpiece, sometimes he seemed to be in her head literally. His ability to analyze the data at lightning quick speed and translate it into the information the op in the field needed was legendary. Most of the techies had never been in the field. Auggie had actually been out there. He understood how vital a roll that information played. It was the currency by which they lived in their job.

Waiting in the airport for her boarding call, Annie found herself dialing to chat with Auggie before she boarded. It was part of their routine. He pumped her up and she made him feel like he was out there with her. She called before the plane, as soon as she landed, when she got to her location, the list went on. Annie smile to herself. Her mother would have killed for this kind of access to her whereabouts as a teenager. She almost called Auggie to share that thought with him.

There. That was it. Those random thoughts and pieces of herself she shared with him constantly. It was one of those moments where she realized how big the hole in her heart felt. Ben leaving had cracked her heart. He hurt her leaving the way he did. But slowly that hurt had begun to heal. A combination of time, hard work, and a certain tech with sightless brown eyes that still managed to twinkle had worked a miracle. Ben had left, but Annie knew he was still out there somewhere. This time, there wasn't even that vague comfort. She was alone.

She could have called Howard. To be fair, he was a great guy with a decent sense of humor. Maybe one day she would be willing to share her quirky thoughts with him. But today was not that one day. Not by a long shot. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she still had a job to do.

Paris was one of those cities she loved and hated. It was beautiful and had such a deep sense of history. She hated the people. They marked Americans the way a dog marked a hydrant, by pissing on them, albeit figuratively. Once they realized who you were, you were treated like crap. She tried to adopt a more European attitude. But even with the CIA training, there was something in the confident way the tall blond moved that screamed American. Auggie said she had an ear for language but the feet of an American.

She was to meet up with the Hungarian at the base of the Eiffel tower. She was to carry a copy of the London Times turned to the financial section. Very obviously cloak and dagger. She hated those countries that got all their training from bad movies. Even worse was the dialogue some idiot thought would be clever and secretive. Generally it just sounded deranged. Usually it was discussing a tropical storm in March.

Sitting with the required paper, she amused herself by people watching. Guessing and making up back stories for stranger had always amused her. Auggie used to laugh at her crazy assumptions. There he was again.

A man approached her cautiously. Good God he was actually wearing a trench coat and hat. Why didn't he wave a neon sign saying "I am a spy"? He went past her and then circled back. Jesus, this was really awful. She was trying not to roll her eyes at him.

"Have you just come from London?"

"Yes, the trip was lovely"

"I hear the Thames might overflow"

"Not if the rain stays on the plain"

Oh this was so bad. Thank God he would then have her follow him to a café where she would retrieve the envelope in another copy of the Times. She would leave a locker key to a bus depot locker that contained the agreed money. Anyone taping the whole exchange could have inserted it unchanged into an Austin Powers movie.

She headed to the café and picked up the paper, and left hers. Heaving a sigh of relief she snapped open her phone to call Augg er, Howard. Just as she did, a small motorbike whizzed by and the passenger grabbed at Annie. She didn't let go of her bag or the paper. The force spun her around and threw her to the ground. She took off after the bike, slowly, with aching ribs she tried to ignore. Darting down an alleyway, she was grabbed from a doorway. Auggie's close combat training served her well. She fought off this attacker and was headed down to the safe house to regroup when she heard the click of a gun.

That feeling of cold metal pressed to your neck was a singular one. You felt it even as you slept weeks later. She was getting tired of feeling this. Why the hell did even the most simple of her ops wind up like this? She was beginning to feel like she had a target painted on her.

As quickly as that gun barrel had been shoved up to her, it was lifted. She heard the sickening crack of a neck and the thud of a body hitting the ground. Cautiously turning her head, she saw him again. Ben. She wasn't almost unconscious like on the subway platform. This time they were 3 feet away from each other.

"You!"

She no sooner breathed this than he reached out, touched her cheek and tried to leave. This time, she was not the same girl who cried after Sri Lanka. This Annie had been fired like steel and was just as tough. She grabbed him and twisted his arm behind him shoving him into the slimy brick wall.

"oh Hell no! You don't get to pull this crap again. What the fuck?"

Ben struggled, but not with his real strength. Somehow he knew this moment would come. Considering how often Annie was in harms' way, it was inevitable. He wasn't sure why he was surprised at her reaction. He had been watching her growing stronger and more confident. He didn't really understand why she had been pulled off the farm so soon, but she seemed to have grown into the role.

He allowed himself to stop struggling. It was time; she was owed this by now.

"Annie, not here. I have a hotel room rented just down this alley. We will talk."

Whatever reply Annie was going to make was lost as they were both grabbed. Annie gasped when she saw Jai. He was directing the agents who were cuffing and shackling Ben.

"What the FUCK!"

"Annie, not now. I will explain later. There is a car at the end of the alley. Get into and head for the airport. You are still working"

She was able to meet Ben's eyes for only a brief moment before she was hustled down the alley, protesting and fighting. Ben had put his head down. He knew and understood what was coming. It was a calculated risk he had been taking for a long time.

As she was pushed away, she could hear Jai on the phone saying, "Yeah, it worked, finally. He was right by her, this time close enough to grab. She was the key just as you thought."

Those words and the look on Jai's face haunted and taunted her all the way to the airport and on the plane back….

**The story bunnies are still not sure what the hell they are doing. All they seem to know is that they love this show. Reviews and comments make the bunnies leave me stuff that makes sense. Oh, yeah and chocolate. The bunnies love chocolate. Ok, *I* love the chocolate….but you get the idea!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I should explain that I started this story idea before they dragged Ben back in on the show. I tried to use some of the same types of conversations. I think they played that card too soon. But I don't like Ben and I think Jai is just slimy.**

**Thank you all for reviewing and alerting etc. I usually write for THE MENTALIST if any of you have seen that show, you might want to wander over to those stories.**

**I don't know how much longer this will go on….maybe another chapter or 2. **

**DISCLAIMER: The eerie calm that came upon my house at the first day of school is mine. The rights to this show and my live action Auggie doll? Still waiting..**

**A Tolling Bell – 3**

To her credit, Annie struggled so hard that it finally took an agent on either side of her to keep her in the car. It also took cuffs and some bruises those same agents would never admit to publically. She twisted still in the car, trying desperately to see Ben and where and who was taking him. She couldn't see anything and stopped struggling. She was quiet all the way to the airport. Her "escorts" weren't sure whether to be relieved or worried.

The former would have been acceptable. Annie was no fool. Fighting these agents got her nowhere. Her questions were ignored. She had to think. Jai's portion of that cryptic conversation needed to be sorted out. Damn, she really missed Auggie at moments like this. He would have the back-story and make it all make sense for her. She was alone. That fact seemed to be the title of her life these days. Alone.

But what the hell did Jai mean? "It worked finally?" Why was she the key? Obviously they wanted Ben, but why? The questions swirled around and the answers that were beginning to form were making her angry.

The emotional woman she had shut away with Auggie's death came back to life with a vengeance. She wanted to scream and kick and hurt someone. Ben was **her** secret. He was **her** past. Untangling this puzzle was **hers**. Why the hell was Jai and the agency concerned with Ben? The key is what Jai called her.

Forcing her breathing to slow and her emotions to quiet took a moment. Once she cleared her mind of the shock and fury, her training kicked in. Think on your feet. Prepare for all contingencies. Follow the protocols. She quietly chanted this to herself. What do I know? How do the pieces fit? Her mind, always quick and now trained to move even faster slid the pieces into place in her mind in a sudden rush.

Ben. He wasn't hers at all. He must have or did belong to the agency. They wanted him. She had been the bait. He had been with her all along. Through each of those supposedly routine ops that fell apart, he was there. The subway platform, the dock. Today, the alley. Anytime she was in really mortal danger, he was there. He had been here all along. They knew it. They knew about them. They used her as the bait. Pull him closer; trap him in the web that was her ops. Only she had no idea she was being used. Why hadn't Auggie….wait. Did Auggie know? Is that why he died? Tying up loose ends wouldn't bother Arthur or Henry Wilcox's son. The raw emotion at Auggie's death began to well up in her. She forced it down. There would be time for that later. First things first.

It was an icy calm Annie Walker who faced Joan the next morning. She had been called into speak to her after they debriefed her. She had given them only the bare bones of information regarding her supposedly 'routine' op. Anyone who knew her would not have recognized the flat voice and stone cold exterior. Annie had always smiled even after things went wrong. Her sunny optimism had always been her hallmark. No longer.

Her hair pulled severely back into a tight bun, she had clad herself in the armor of a regulation navy blue suit. The skirt was longer and the blouse buttoned up high. The lack of makeup revealed the only trace of emotion in her red rimmed eyes.

"Ben Mercer. Was I only recruited to get him? Exactly what is or was he? You owe me that."

Joan forced herself to hide her sympathy for the younger woman she had come to like despite herself. She met dead stare for dead stare.

"We don't owe you anything. We recruit people for different reasons. Whether they stay is based solely on their performance, no matter what they were recruited."

"Every op I went on was set up to fail. It was set up to make me a target so you could get to Ben. My life was hanging by a thread each time. Auggie is the only person who could have made sense of any of this and he is conveniently gone. Hell, yes, I am owed something here."

The commanding calm was unlike the Annie she had known before Auggie's death. This was an Annie to be reckoned with. Once again, Arthur had only seen a pretty young woman and severely underestimated. He was becoming more like Henry Wilcox all the time. Joan made her decision.

"Walk outside into the gardens with me Annie."

Pulling her along, Joan headed for the one spot that only she and Arthur knew had older listening devices. They could be jammed with a cell phone code. As they walked out silently, Joan was conscious of the stares. She only had a few minutes before Arthur or one of his minions would break up this conversation.

"I only have a moment here Annie and then I will never speak of this again. Ben Mercer was one of ours. He went off the grid. It was right after he met you in Sri Lanka. He was there on an op and it took longer for his contact to arrive. Normally, an agent passing the time is no big deal. But you weren't some beach bunny. You were too smart and whatever happened with you and Ben caused him to drop off and out. He went rogue. A rogue agent is a danger to not just the agency but all the other agents we have out in the field. We didn't know anything that was motivating him but you. So, yes, we recruited you. But honestly, you would have been a find anyway. We pulled you off the farm because we had some intel about Ben. You were the only way to smoke him out. I wanted to stop right away. We tried having Jai get close to you in case Ben contacted you. But that backfired a bit. He fell for you. He stayed professional but still wasn't reliable as a source then.. As for Ben, he knew what he was doing when he left and when he followed you around. He knew exactly the consequences and took them. He knew what he risked each time. He knew we would eventually find him."

Joan could see Arthur heading over to them through the glass. He was doing that walk that didn't look anxious to anyone but her. He was pissed. She didn't care. She hadn't told Annie anything she couldn't have or wouldn't have figured out on her own.

"And Auggie?" Annie was still trying to take in all she had said about Ben. But she had to know about Auggie.

"You and Auggie were a wild card no one expected. He had never taken to anyone like that. You had gotten past some very carefully erected barriers. The bond you two had was real. I want you to know that. His death, that explosion, that wasn't us. It happened. But we didn't arrange it. Hello Arthur."

"Joan, Annie, don't you think the very expensive center we just built would have been an equally good place to talk?" His question was directed at Joan. He knew why she had brought Annie out here. What he was asking her silently was how much she had said.

"Arthur, Annie now understands some very basic information. She is a highly intelligent agent. She knows how to process this all."

"Annie?"

"Now that you have him, will the target come off my back? Or will every op I run still be a disaster area waiting to happen. I don't like the idea of being bait. Am I an agent or a pawn here?"

"Do you want to be an agent?"

Annie considered Arthur and Joan for a long moment. The pain of losing Auggie, of finding Ben, of learning why she was recruited pulled at her. Part of her wanted to just crawl up and cry. But since the one pair of shoulders she would have done that on had been blown to bits, she would have to comfort herself.

"I want to be an agent. But, if I am to be bait as part of an op, tell me. Because I am either in or out. Now you tell me which."

Arthur was impressed. The steel eyed woman in front of him had been through the kind of emotional hell that would have taken down a seasoned agent. She had been compressed like some carbon and become a hard edged diamond.

"You are in. But this conversation is over and never happened and will never happen again" He spun on his heel and left

Annie could feel Auggie's voice in her head telling her what a huge break that had just been. She wanted to lean against his console and hear him tell her what this all meant. She had decided to stay partially to keep his voice in her head. She was alone, that voice was her only company. But mostly, she didn't believe his death wasn't too easy for the agency. She would find out who ordered it. Then she would take him down. She didn't care how long it would take.

**This might have been too easy a dismissal of Ben. He will probably pop again. And Annie will get some answers about her Auggie.**

**Does this make sense to you all?**


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